


The Scent of Jazbay Leaves

by Kartaylir



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29226429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kartaylir/pseuds/Kartaylir
Summary: When Legate Rikke arrives at the Blue Palace with a message, she finds Elisif less interested in documents than company.
Relationships: Elisif the Fair/Rikke
Comments: 14
Kudos: 17
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	The Scent of Jazbay Leaves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jibber_jabber](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jibber_jabber/gifts).



Legate Rikke had not quite let herself expect such a greeting from the Jarl of Solitude. The report she bore was hardly urgent, and yet she’d been summoned immediately to Elisif’s quarters upon arrival. Elisif wasn’t even fully dressed, her shoulders bare, the lines of hair and neck undecorated by even the simplest curve of gold or silver. 

If it was a gesture to unsettle Rikke, it was not one she’d admit had worked on her, and so she struck a precise posture of attention once she’d stepped into the room.

“Thank you for coming so swiftly,” Elisif said, and there was a warmth to her words that brushed many of Rikke’s concerns away.

“My orders were to deliver this to your hand.” Rikke held out the message, the edges of it still damp from flakes of just-melted snow.

“Is it urgent, then? I had an idea…”

 _Talos save us_ , Rikke thought. “Crucial, but not so urgent. I hadn’t expected to see you until tomorrow.”

“Good. Then you can help me with these.” Elisif motioned to a set of pendants that hung on a rack nearby, decorated with small rubies in a style that seemed as much Nibenese as Nordic. “The clasps dislike the cold.”

That, at least, was a struggle Rikke had some familiarity with. Many of the soldiers under her command had faced their own difficulties in combining Cyrodiilic approaches with the chill of Skyrim’s weather.

So she picked up one of the pendants and let it hang from her hand, where it swayed as the heat from her fingers slowly warmed the golden clasp. 

Elisif made a fair game of waiting patiently, not quite staring, not quite looking away. Still, she smiled as Rikke stepped closer to her, and held up her hair with one hand to allow Rikke to latch it more easily in the back.

That small gesture meant that Rikke could notice a scent on Elisif’s hair, something faintly sweet. Jazbay leaves and lavender if she were to guess, both likely left in a pillow so the smell could be absorbed over a night’s sleep.

In that second of mulling such over, Rikke nearly missed the way Elisif moved to kiss her, Elisif’s arm wrapped around her shoulder, the clang of metal as the pendant hit the metal of Rikke’s breastplate.

The kiss, however, was too sweet and lingering to be overlooked. 

Rikke blinked once after it ended, then took a deep breath. “I still have to give you the message, you know. Your court might—”

Elisif raised a hand, then said,“This is why Falk considers you a good influence. One more kiss first?”

It wasn’t an offer Rikke would argue with.


End file.
